Twin electrical devices



July'17, 1962 N. FRANTZ ET AL 3,045,080

TWIN ELECTRICAL DEVICES Filed Oct. 2, 1958 2 Sheets-Sheat E15 'L 56 60 l4 v 42 28 I2 58 f M Z 46 54 "121/ 64 INVENTORS NICHOLAS FRANTZ BY STANLEY GLOVIAK FINN G. OLSEN ATTORNEY y 1962 N. FRANTZ ET AL 3,045,080

TWIN ELECTRICAL DEVICES Filed Oct. 2, 1958 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 E LIE-..

l 3 INVENTORS NICHOLAS FRANTZ Y STANLEY GLOVIAK FINN G. OLSEN ATTORNEY United States Patent Office 3,045,080 Patented July 17, 1962 3,045,080 TWIN ELECTRICAL DEVICES Nicholas Frantz, Skolrie, and Stanley Gloviak, Westchester, 111., assignors to Carter Parts Company, Skokie, Ill., a corporation of Illinois Filed Oct. 2, 1958, Ser. No. 764,935 1 Claim. (Cl. 200-51.02)

The present invention relates to electrical devices, such "as electrical jacks, push button switches and the like,

and more particularly to improvements therein wherein multiple jacks, switches, or combinations thereof, can be assembled as a twin unit.

In using devices such as jacks, push button switches and the like, it is sometimes desired to use intricate cir cuits which include more than one such device and wherein the devices are interconnected and use common connections. It is therefore the principal object of the present invention to provide a multiple electrical device which is constructed and arranged to include as a part thereof a plurality of jacks, push button switches, or cornbinations thereof, which are assembled as a single unit and employ common parts and common connections.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a twin electrical device adapted to include either two jacks, two push button switches, or a combination of each which is characterized by its simplicity, and the relatively few parts that are employed, and by the ease with which such parts can be assembled, thereby assuring a relatively low costitem.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a twin electrical device of the foregoing character which is constructed and arranged so that the component parts of the individual jacks or push button switches include common supporting and clinching elements thereby sim plifying the assembly operation and assuring a rigid device wherein the various elements are retained in prescribed position relative to one another.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a twin electrical device of the foregoing character which isvcharacterized by the smallness of dimensions of the component parts that may be used and the relative ease with which such parts can be assembled.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a twin electrical device of the foregoing character wherein the clinching elements include a terminal clamp which includes a common ground terminal and a spacer clamp positioned between the bodies of the individual devices and attached to the terminal clamp, said clamps engaging opposite sides of said bodies to secure them in a fixed position in close proximity.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a twin electrical device of the foregoing character which is characterized by the number of parts which can be used interchangeably in twin jacks, twin push button switches, or combinations thereof, as well as in single units of jacks or push button switches, thereby allowing standard parts to be manufactured so as to reduce the cost of production of such items.

Other objects of this invention will appear in the following description and appended claims, reference being had to the accompanying drawings forming apart of this specification wherein like reference characters designate corresponding parts in the several views.

In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 isa front elevational view, partly in section, of a twin electrical device illustrating one embodi ment of the present invention comprising "a jack and push button switch combination;

FIGURE. 2 is a top plan view of the embodiment illustrated in FIGURE 1;

tions of the circuits that can be made when using the embodiment illustrated in FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 5 is a front elevational view of a twin electrical device illustrating another embodiment of the present invention comprising twin jacks;

FIGURE 6 is a schematic diagram illustrating circuits that can be made when employing the twin jack illustrated in FIGURE 5;

FIGURE 7 is a front elevational view of a twin electrical device illustrating still another embodiment of the present invention comprising twin push button switches; and

FIGURE '8 is a schematic diagram illustrating circuits that can be made when using the embodiment illustrated in FIGURE 7.

Before explaining the present invention in detail, it is to be understood that the. invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and arrangement of parts illustrated in the accompanying drawings, since the invention is capableof other embodiments and of being practiced or carried out in various ways. Also,

it is to be understood that the phraseology or terminology employed herein is for the purpose of description and not of limitation.

Referring now to the drawings, a more detailed description of the present invention will be given. 7 Attention is directed first to FIGURES 1 to 3, inclusive, which illustrate the twin electrical device 10 having as one of its electrical devices the electrical jack 12 and as its other electrical device the push button switch 14. The electrical jack 12 is one of a number of difierent electrical jacks that can be mounted in this electrical device 10, and it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to this specific type of jack. Illustrations of other types of electrical jacks that can be used are disclosed in copending application Serial No. 682,332, now Patent No. 3,011,035, filed September 6, 1957. Likewise, the present embodiment of the invention is not restricted to the use of a push button switch of the type disclosed in FIGURES '1 to 3, but it may use other push button switches, such as are shown, for example, in copending application Serial No. 720,898, now Patent No. 2,903,540, filed March 21, 1958. For the purposes of describing this embodiment of the invention, the push button switch will be describedfirst, after which a brief description of the jack will be given. 7

The push button switch 14 has a body or insulator 16 which is a molded phenolic, and has a central opening 18 with. slots 20 formed in the walls of said central opening. The upper end of the insulator 16 has a pair of diametrically opposed notches 22, only one of which can be seen inFIGURE 3, extending transversely between the opening 18 and the outer surface of the insulator 16. The opposite sides of the insulator 16 have shoulders 24 thereon for purposes to be described here-. after.

A pair of inverted U-shaped spring contact elements 26 straddle the end of the insulator 16 with the intermediate portion of each spring contact element 26 fitting respectively into the diametrically opposed notches 22, only one of which can be seen in FIGURE 3. Only one of the spring contact elements 26- will be described in detail, since they may be constructed the same. The one side of element 26 extends externally of the insulator 16 and has an apertured end 28 to which an electric conductor can be connected. The other side of element 26 extends into the opening 18 and converges toward the axis of such opening so that its end portion 30 will be in position to be engaged by a push button element, to be described, when the latter is depressed through the insulator 16.

It is to be observed that the intermediate portion of spring contact element 26 is sufiiciently wide so that it substantially fills the notch 22. This assures that the element 26 will not shift laterally. Also, this wide portion extends on into the opening 18 until substantially to the bottom of insulator 16. The wide portion is split longitudinally into three longitudinal segments. The center one, identified by the number 30 forms the spring contact arm engageable by the push button element, to be described. The side segments 32 fit into the slots 20 in the inner wall of insulator 16. This assembled position is obtained by sliding the segments 32 down into slots 20 from the top of insulator 16. The side segments of 32, if desired, may have a crimped portion to assure that opposite sides of the segments engage the opposite walls of the slots 20 thereby assuring a stable mounted position. Thus, when the spring contact element 26 is fully inserted into place, only the free end of the spring contact arm 30 can be moved and the contact element 26 is retained in a very stable position.

The spring contact element 26 is retained against removal from the insulator 16 by the insulating element 34 which is seated on the top wall of insulator 16 and blocks the upper open side of the notch 22 in which the spring contact element 26 is fitted. The insulating element 34 is formed from dielectric material and is a one piece unit having a pair of apertures 36 and 38 therein. The aperture 36 is in registry with the opening 18 in the insulator 16. The insulating element also has a pair of notches 40 between the apertures 36 and 38 for a purpose to be described hereafter.

Positioned above the insulating element 34 is a terminal clamp 42 which includes a pair of spaced sleeves 44 and 46. The sleeves are mounted over apertures 48 and 50 and are attached to the edges thereof in the sheet metal portion 52. The sheet metal portion 52 is sutficiently wide to overlie the insulating element 34, and tongues 53 on opposite sides thereof are adapted to extend beyond the insulating element 34 and to be clinched under the shoulders of the insulators positioned below the insulating element 34. Thus, referring to FIGURE 1, it can be seen that the free end of the tongue 53 is clinched over the shoulder 24 thereby rigidly locking the insulator 24 and insulating element 34 to the terminal clamp 42. Positioned within the sleeve 44 is a coil spring 54, and extending through the coil spring 54 and into the opening 18 of the insulator 16 is a push button element 56. The latter has a shoulder at 58 which is adapted to engage the upper end of spring 54 thereby depressing the same when the push button is depressed, said shoulder 58 then serving as a portion against which the spring 54 can act for urging the push button element 56 back to its normal position shown in FIGURE 1. The push button element 56 also has another shoulder 60 which limits the extent to which the push button element can be depressed through the opening 18. The push button element 56 has a groove 62 into Which a snap ring 64 has been fitted. The snap ring 64 is sufliciently large so that it prevents the coil spring 54 from urging the push button element 56 outwardly beyond the position shown in FIGURE 1. The push button element 56 has a second annular groove 66 into which an electrically conductive snap ring 68 is inserted. When the push button element 56 is in the position shown in FIGURE 1, the electrically conductive snap ring 68 will be out of engagement with the end portions 30 of the spring contact element 26. However, when the push button element 56 is depressed, the inwardly extending portions 30 will be engaged by the ring 68 thereby closing a circuit between the spring contact elements 26. This can be seen schematically in FIG- URE 4 wherein the conductive ring 68 is shown spaced from the portions 30 of the spring contact elements 26, and when the conductive ring 68 is caused to bridge the portions 30 by depressing the push button element 56, a circuit will be closed between the portions 30.

The electrical jack 12 will now be described briefly. It will be observed that the insulator 70 is constructed identically the same as insulator 16, and therefore, it will not be described again. The jack 12 has one spring contact element mounted on the insulator 70, which is identified by the reference numeral 72. It will be noted that spring contact element 72 is relatively short and has an inwardly projecting portion 76 which is adapted to be engaged by a conventional electrical plug (not shown). The spring element 72 is mounted in the slot 20 in the same manner as previously described with respect to the spring contact elements 26 with respect to the insulator 16. Mounted between the insulators 16 and 70 is a spacer clamp 80 which has a pair of tabs 82 which are adapted to fit through the slots 40 in the insulating element 34 and to pass through a pair of slots g4 formed in the middle of the sheet metal portion 52 of the terminal clamp 42 and then to be bent over as is shown in FIGURE 2. The spacer clamp 80 also has a pair of laterally extending fingers 86 which are adapted to engage the adjacent shoulders 24 of the insulator elements 16 and 70. Thus, when the spacer clamp 80 is mounted in place, its base portion 88 will be seated on the insulating element 34 and its fingers 86 will resiliently urge the insulator elements 16 and 70 against the insulator element 34 and the tabs 82 will extend through the clamping terminal 42. thereby cooperating with the tongues 53 of the terminal clamp 42 in holding the various parts of the twin electrical device together. The spacer clamp also will prevent the insulators 16 and 70 from being laterally displaced inwardly toward one another.

Referring to FIGURE 4 it will be seen that when plug (not shown) for the electrical jack is inserted through the sleeve 46, an electric circuit will be closed between the sleeve 46 and the terminal 90 which is made an integral part of the sheet metal member 52. The plug, not shown,

will at the same time be in electrical contact with the spring contact element 72.

Referring now to FIGURES 5 and 6, another modification of the invention will be described wherein the twin electrical device 100 comprises electrical jacks 102 and 104. In this embodiment several of the component parts are the same as were used in the embodiment of FIG- URES l to 4, inclusive, and hence, they will not be described in detail. Thus, insulating element 34, terminal clamp 42, sleeves 44 and 46 and spacer terminal are the same and may be used interchangeably with the corresponding parts of the embodiment of FIGURES 1 to 4, inclusive.

In the embodiment of FIGURES 5 and 6, the jacks 102 and 104 are the same, so only one will be described. It is to be understood, however, that either or both of these jacks may be modified without departing from the present invention. Referring to electrical jack 102, it will be seen that the insulator 106 has an extension 108 which is an integral part of molded body. The insulator 106 carries two spring contact elements 110 and 112, each having radially inwardly projecting portions adapted to be engaged respectively by the tip and ring or sleeve of a conventional plug (not shown) for an electrical jack.

The extension 108 carries a double shunt terminal 114 which has a horizontal U-shaped portion 116 providing two spaced contact portions, concealed behind contact 110 in FIGURE 5, one normally engaged by the free end of spring contact element 110 and the other normally engaged by the free end of spring contact element 112. Thus, a jack having two normally closed contacts is provided, and on inserting the conventional plug (not shown), these contacts will be opened and contact element 110 will engage the plug tip while contact element 112 will engage the plug ring or sleeve. A common ground terminal is provided for both jacks 102 and 104. For a more detailed showing of jacks 102 and 104, reference is made to copending application, Serial No. 764,937 filed October 2, 1958.

The jack 104 also has two normally closed contact elements so that the twin electrical device 100-has four such normally closed contact elements. It is to be observed that these contact elements are all mounted in a common plane, that is, flush with the surfiace of the insulating element 34, thereby assuring the smallest possible dimension from end of sleeve 46 to the free end of shunt terminal '114.

Referring next to FIGURES 7 and 8, another embodiment of a twin electrical device 120 is shown having two push button switches 122 and 1 24. Each of these push button switches is the same as the push button switch 14 described with respect to FIGURES 1 to 4, inclusive, so they will not be described in detail. However, they illus trate another arrangement that can be made using common parts with other twin devices, such parts being, by Way of example, the sleeves 44, the terminal clamp 42, the insulating element 34, the insulators 16, and the like.

Having thus described our invention, we claim:

A twin electrical device, comprising an insulating element having a pair of spaced apertures, a pair of sleeves positioned on one side of said insulating element and a pair of hollow insulators with central openings positioned in side-by-side relation on the other side of said insulating element so that the openings in said sleeves and in said insulators are in registry with said apertures, each of said insulators having shoulder means on opposite sides thereof intermediate the ends of said insulators, a first clamp member connected to said sleeves and overlying 6 said one side of said insulating element and having tongues extending beyond said other side and clinched over the shoulder means on each of said insulators, said first clamp member having a pair of slots formed therein and positioned between said sleeves, a second substantially U-shaped clamp member positioned on the other side of said insulating member and having a base and legs, said base being positioned between said insulators in engagement with said shoulder means on the insulators, said legs having tabs projecting from the ends thereof and extending through said pair of slots so as to clinch the insulating element and first clamp member together and so that said base in cooperation with said tongues holds said insulators in place, and a plurality of spring contact elements having portions thereof overlying the ends of said insulators adjacent said insulating element and being clamped therebetweeen and with the legs of the contact elements extending into said hollow insulators.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

